


Home for the Holidays

by GhostJ



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Earthling Traditions are Weird, Fluff, Gen, Multi, adorableness, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostJ/pseuds/GhostJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gai’s peculiar behaviour over the past few weeks has been leaving his team both concerned and sleep deprived. There was obviously something wrong with their earthling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/gifts).



There was something wrong with their earthling.

“Well, it’s not physical,” Don said, tapping the display behind him. The ship’s doctor had already switched the view of the main display from the surface of the planet below to the most recent body scans of their resident human. Gai and Luka had gone down to the planet early in the morning; Gai to replenish their food stores and explore, and Luka to a) ensure he wasn’t kidnapped – again – , b) to make sure he came back with the supplies they needed at reasonable cost, and c) to spy. The other crew members had taken the opportunity of Gai’s absence to discuss their concerns and their findings, although few at that, around the dining room table and over tea, at Ahim’s behest.

Don let the display run through, pointing out various levels of hormones and nutrients, all of which seemed to be within normal parameters, well, according to Gokai Galleon’s records in any case. None of them had had any contact with humans previous to their arrival on Earth and their current predicament was making it quite clear that they should have asked a few more questions, or maybe invested in a guidebook. Perhaps, it would have given them a starting point, as Gai appeared to be at least _physically_ similar to most other humans, even if he seemed to be rather one of a kind otherwise.

Don frowned as he let his lecture trail off, noticing Ahim discreetly kick Marvelous under the table, causing their captain to jerk awake. Out of all of them, Marvelous and Don had been most affected by Gai’s peculiar behaviour over the past few weeks. Marvelous, as any change in his crew’s behaviour tended to have him on edge, and Don, due to the increasing demand on his, rather limited, knowledge of human health. Not to imply that the rest of the crew were unaffected, as anything that lead to one of them sneaking out of bed in the dead of the night was bound to become a point of concern. On the whole they did tend to get precious little sleep in bed, what with the frequent and unscheduled running for their lives and other, equally active, goings-on. The fact that Gai thought his behaviour was still unnoticed only went to prove that, although he’d been travelling with them for almost 6 months by his accounting and by the monthly anniversary stickers he’d placed on the ship’s calendar, he was still very much an _apprentice_ pirate.

“Do Earthlings cycle?” Joe asked Don. Gai’s behaviour had reminded him of some of the small rodent species preparing to nest; very furtive, with what could only be described as foraging and caching. Not only that, but at their last stop they’d caught him sneaking off to haggle for a strand of beads, far more suited to Ahim’s or Joe’s taste than his, only to blush furiously and immediately hide his purchase when he noticed them waiting. Further, when Luka’d chided him for not asking her help to get the best price, Gai was a ludicrously soft sell when it came to bargaining, he’d merely stammered that it was something he’d needed to take care of himself and, embarrassed, avoided all other questions about the subject.

Don shook his head. “Not like that. His reproductive biology is pretty similar to ours after all.”

Everyone turned to Marvelous, who was leaning back in his chair with a smug smile on his face. “Reproductive compatibility” had certainly been an added bonus to bringing Gai on board; even if they did find some of his cultural predilections rather confusing. Don did appreciate the added support on keeping things, mostly, out of the kitchen though.

“Maybe Gai-san is unhappy?” Ahim asked, placing her tea cup gently on to its saucer.

It was definitely a possibility, but not one that anyone had been willing to raise just yet. Gai had appeared to be acclimatising well to life onboard the Gokai Galleon, but Ahim knew how difficult homesickness could make such a journey, and, unlike her, Gai still had the lure of returning to his planet.

“He wouldn’t tell us if he were, would he?” Don agreed sadly. Gai generally wore his heart on his sleeve, but he would be the last one, outside of Marvelous and Joe, to let his crewmates know if he were unhappy, for fear of hurting _their_ feelings. Again, everyone turned to their captain, who had a perplexed look on his face.

“With the food?” Marvelous hazarded.

“No!” Don snapped, equal parts frustration and wounded pride. “There’s nothing wrong with my cooking!”

“Right,” Marvelous agreed, nodding. His expression of confusion grew as the others kept staring at him, trying to follow his logic.

“There’s nothing wrong with the food, so he’s not unhappy?” Ahim suggested, a small smile gracing her lips.

Marvelous grunted an agreement before turning in his seat to shout for Navi.

“Oi, Bird. What’s wrong with Gai?”

“Naughty, naughty, naughty.” Navi chirped, flying around the table before landing beside Ahim’s cup. “This secret is only for good boys and girls. Not for you, not for you.”

Marvelous snorted at the bird’s antics, and all the men turned almost as one to look at Ahim, who by an unspoken understanding, was the only one aboard who was likely in the running to be ‘good’.

“Navi-san,” Ahim said wheedling, as she reached out to stroke the parrot’s metal head. “ _Do_ you know what’s been wrong with Gai-san? We’re very worried about him…”

Navi eyed her warily, obviously torn between keeping the secret for Gai, which had the added bonus of annoying Marvelous, and acquiescing to the demands of the other human on board who didn’t treat him like a tin dog. Luckily, he was spared from having to choose between her and Gai by an incoming communication from Luka, which Don quickly pulled up on the wall.

“Luka!” Don cheered, relieved. “Did you find something out?”

Luka smiled, looking every inch the canary who’d blown up the cat and emptied its bank accounts.

“Of course,” she assured him. “With my skills it was easy to figure out what was going on.”

Joe snorted softly. He’d been the only one present for her rant earlier when she’d mentioned her intentions to shake down Gai for an explanation once she was alone with him and, considering how sleep deprivation seemed to be effecting her, he’d decided against telling the others in case plausible deniability was required. Considering that Luka looked no worse for wear, Joe expected that Gai had done the smart thing and come clean without a fight.

“I promised I wouldn’t tell,” Luka hedged.

“Promised?” Marvelous sounded shocked and even Ahim had to place her tea cup down and grab a napkin to discretely dab at the small spill of tea on the table from her own shock.

“Does it ring any _bells_ , if I tell you that Gai asked me to help him bargain for a _tree_ to be delivered tonight to the secondary loading bay?” Luka continued. It wasn’t outrageous that Gai thought she’d keep a promise, well only a little, but really, this was _important_ – he’d thank her later. Anyways, she didn’t have to tell them outright, which meant she’d be fine, she didn’t want to shoot herself in the foot after all.

Luka rolled her eyes expressively when no one responded to her clue. Pretty much the only thing you could get from the dirt ball below was lumber from the planet’s large evergreen forests, so in their defence maybe it wasn’t that obvious. She decided to go for broke, “Bells and a tree? Santa-san?”

Ahim, Don and Joe visibly relaxed as they remembered the mid-winter Earthling holiday Gai had introduced them to. Marvelous though still looked rather confused and Luka huffed a sigh before restructuring her clue for their captain.

“Battle Fever’s grand power?” She tried.

“Ah! Christmas!” Marvelous cheered.


	2. Chapter 2

All said, it was easy to surprise Gai come the next morning. Luka had, after the previous year’s hijinks, looked up Christmas traditions in some detail. Mostly to see just _how good_ she’d have to be over the course of the year to ensure maximum present return and, according to her calculations, she would be right on the dot. She was therefore also the one to suggest drugging the milk in the fridge with a mild sleeping tonic. That way when Gai came back to bed after helping himself to a cup of milk, once he’d finished putting up his tree, the stockings, and putting out the cookies and milk for Santa, the others had no problems spending some time… improving his display.

When Gai awoke, albeit much later and slightly groggier than normal, and made his way to the bridge to see where the rest of the crew was, he was greeted by quite the sight. His tree had been decked from top to bottom in glowing lights and ornaments, which upon closer inspection proved to be ranger keys, and someone had coaxed a, now-sleeping, Navi to sit on top of it. The same someone, he had his bets on Marvelous, had also taken what looked like a can of gold paint to their navigator to try to complete the image, as evidenced by a few hastily cleaned smears of gold paint along the walls and the captain’s chair.

Along the window ledge where he’d set up the stockings, his rather plain grey one - purchased for himself and filled with a few small toys to make the others less self-conscious about receiving their near bulging ones – was now nearly so full as to burst. Its recent coat of silver glitter and duct tape serving to make it look like nothing so much as a retired disco ball repurposed into a piñata.

Perhaps the best surprise though was turning the corner to their dining nook and seeing _his_ crew passed out snoring along the table, with half drunk cups of cocoa in front of them. In the middle of the table, obviously having been protected from Marvelous’ wandering fingers, there stood a large frosted cake with Merry Christmas written out in green, red, and silver icing.

Safe to be said, Gai’s exuberant, and very vocal, blubbering did eventually wake most of them up. Although they did have to threaten to eat the cake without Marvelous to convince their captain to open his eyes.

* * *

In the end, Ahim was happy enough to confess to decorating the tree, Joe and Don to the cake, Luka to filling his stocking with presents – mostly legally purchased at that – and Marvelous, unsurprisingly, to dyeing Navi. No one though, not even the Gokai Galleon, could account for the wrapped presents under their tree, the large indent on their couch, the absence of their _entire_ coffee supply, or the note on the empty plate beside the Captain’s chair, strongly requesting Brandy for future visits and informing Luka that she was being let off with a warning this year.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Yuletide!!  
> I hope this suits and thank you ever so much for giving me a reason to rewatch Gokaiger! I also love Gai and tried to make this fit into your OT6 request as well, since yes... That's pretty much the show.  
> This is sadly unbeta'd due to time constraints, so apologies for any spelling and/or hilarious grammar mistakes (let me know and I'll fix them right up!)  
> I also hope the holiday theme is alright. I figure Gai seemed so excited about Christmas, so he'd probably carry it with him.


End file.
